'Everyone who came to my register [got] 20% off': 20 Employees who quit on their very first day of work

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 25, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

These people had a sneaking suspicion they weren't going to like their new job. So they quit ASAP---many of them quit right after their first shift. 

There are a lot of clues that can tell you if a company is a good place to work or not. For example, if you go through the interview process and the steps are clear and the company is communicative, that's a good sign. But imagine you show up to an interview, and there are dozens of other people there. Hmm, that's the first sign. Then, you and all those people are told you're going to be selling tupperware or vacuums. Nope! That happened to one person, who left immediately, and added that about ⅔ of the other "applicants" did as well. 

Most of the stories below come from people who were at their very first retail or food service jobs. That makes sense: the bosses there were taking advantage of the naivety of wide-eyed teens who are eager to please. These are some real "live and learn" moments. 

Check out these great stories below. Then, this video rental store customer demanded that the clerk do their job correctly, so they made her wait while they scanned 50 DVDs. 

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  • 01
    Product - People who quit their jobs on the first day, what was your "I'm outta here" moment? When the microwave in the lunch room was coin activated.
    via Artificial Photography on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - People who quit their jobs on the first day, what was your "I'm outta here" moment?
    via u/redmambo_no6
  • 03
    Font - NorCalKerry When I burned my hands all night on the too hot plates as a food runner. They wouldn't let me use towels to carry them and said I just had to get used to it. Nope.
    via u/NorCalKerry
  • 04
    Font - thelonecedar It was my first day at five guys, it was around 10:30 PM and they told me it was time to clock out, despite not having finished closing. I then worked until almost midnight. I did not return.
    via u/thelonecedar
  • 05
    Font - ZacharyRS94 Not technically first day but second day. When I was 20 or so I got hired to be a temporary floor member for Forever21 during the holiday season. My training started a week before Black Friday so the store was already kind of in chaos. On my first day of training I walked in and the floor manager gave all the new hires a tour showing us the facility and layout of the store. After this I was assigned to a veteran floor member to shadow and get an idea of what my job was and wha
    via u/ZacharyRS94
  • 06
    Font - manager dipped never to be seen again. An hour and a half into my shift my shadowee got an emergency family call and had to take off for a week. When this happened I found some other floor manager and explained the situation and asked them who else I should shadow. The managers response was "just do what you can by yourself you'll be fine, everyone else is busy." Figured we'll ok I'll try... I don't know if any of you have shopped in the women's section of forever21 but during seasonal sa
    via u/ZacharyRS94
  • 07
    Font - differences (ex. A white cardigan with 4 buttons that looked literally the same as a white cardigan with 5 buttons). The best part was these different items were often placed in completely separate parts of the store and it was the job of the dressing room to return the unpurchased items to the correct section so the employees could put them back on the shelves. Well, these employees f sucked and I didn't know if they were a part of my section or not so I'd spend a ridiculous amount of ti
    via u/ZacharyRS94
  • 08
    Font - and move to the next item. More than 50% of the stuff I was told to reshelf wasn't my section. I just did as best as I could and got ready for my next miserable day. The next day I come in and the store manager pulls me to her office and tells me how slow I was the day before and if I want to keep working here I need to be very fast. I explained my lack of training and unfamiliarity with the store and she told me if I didn't know where the clothes were in sections I should come in my free
    via u/ZacharyRS94
  • 09
    Font - Katy-L-Wood I used to work at a craft store as a cashier, but quit when I moved. Ended up going back a couple years later to make some extra cash, but this time in the framing department. During the interview they swore up and down I would only ever be a backup cashier because I said I refused to have full cashier shifts. First shift after interview is listed as framing, but I'm put on cash and told that actually most of my shifts would be cash since they'd found someone else for framing.
    via u/Katy-L-Wood
  • 10
    Font - zackit Wasn't exactly the first day but I didn't show up after the second shift. It was a rather popular cafe chain in my country. I was hired to work in the kitchen as a cook along with another, senior cook. Let's put aside the fact that I had zero cooking knowledge whatsoever, the senior cook was leaving the kitchen every five minutes to smoke. So there I am, alone in the kitchen, orders are printing FAST, and I'm standing there not sure what to do first, and the waitress comes over yel
    via u/zackit
  • 11
    Font - Later on the senior cook told me they had at least two rats running around the kitchen. Showed me they p ed on a plate. I never came back and I'm glad the place got shutdown.
    via u/zackit
  • 12
    Font - teamfaysal On the first day of working at Amazon warehouse the managers broke down to Everyone how a 15 minute break works there. Walking to the break room is 2 1/2 minutes. 10 minutes of actual break and then 2 1/2 minutes to go back to your stations. It took me 2 1/2 minutes to walk to my car and I took a forever break.
    via u/teamfaysal
  • 13
    Font - csudebate Summer job working for a landscape architect. Got to the job site and he asked me to dig a hole in some rocky dirt. I asked for a shovel. He didn't have one. I asked for a hand spade. He didn't have one. He told me to just dig the hole with my bare hands and then he drove off to another site leaving me completely alone. I dug for a little bit and then said this' and left. Had the job specified that I needed to supply my own tools I could've but it didn't and I wasn't going to wo
    via u/csudebate
  • 14
    Font - webz45 Answered an ad in the paper (this was the mid 90s) what seemed to be an office job making sales calls when I was in college. Did a phone interview and was called back for an in person interview. When I go to the interview I'm led into a room with about 50 other people and a small stage at the front of the room. We're all somewhat confused as to what is going on. Finally a guy gets on the stage and informs us that we've been selected for the opportunity to sell Cutco. Me and 2/3rds
    via u/webz45
  • 15
    Font - Auto_Fac I noped out of an interview one time. Thanked them at the end and said it wasn't for me. Those interviewing, management level folks, started arguing with each other in front of me during the interview. I figured, if this is the vibe at the management level then I sure as h don't want to be your employee.
    via u/Auto_Fac
  • 16
    Font - gkemball A long time ago, not long after getting my papers as a chef I had an interview at a hotel for a position in the kitchen. The Executive Chef and I chatted in his office for about 20 mins, at the time I remember him coming off as very arrogant which is quite common in this field, I didn't think much of it at the time as the pay was decent and the shift was what I wanted. As I was leaving his office I turned to leave through the dining room (the way I had come in) which was closed a
    via u/gkemball
  • 17
    Font - time it was another hour or so before service started and he says to me "No not that way, go through the kitchen, you're not good enough to go through the dining room." I was so surprised by what he said, I just did what he asked without a word. Later on after I had got home I phoned him up and said that after having a close look I decided that his menu wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be accepting his offer.
    via u/gkemball
  • 18
    Font - Chefdingo Restaurant. Swept under my station when we were closing. Giant brown pile came out with broom from under low-boy fridge. Pile began to scatter. It was hundreds of roaches. Never returned
    via u/Chefdingo
  • 19
    Font - SirFuzzB I got hired at a very small knock off dollar store in an old, failing mall. The owner was foreign with a very thick accent. He told me I'd get $6 an hour but neglected to mention it was under the table. I spent about an hour stocking the very overly cluttered shelves before I was told to get more chips out of the back storage area. I walk back there and theres about a dozen men sitting on boxes all cramed into a small back room. I asked where the chips were and these guys all gla
    via u/SirFuzzB***
  • 20
    Font - Then one guy got up and asked what I needed. I told him I was supposed to get a box of chips and he got a box out of the pile and handed it to me. The entire time these guys are all staring at me. Everything back there looked shady as all h and it was very uncomfortable.
    via u/SirFuzzB***
  • 21
    Font - A while later I had to use the restroom which was also in the back. These guys all just wordlessly glared at me while I went into the woman's restroom. While I was in the restroom, someone tried to open the door. I was the only woman there. The owner told me he wanted me to come back that night late in the evening well after the mall closed. I didn't show up. I came in the next morning and lied about why I couldn't work there. He still gave me the few bucks from what little time I did wor
    via u/SirFuzzB***
  • 22
    Font - ItsMeDoodleBob Restaurant line chef. Worked a 12 hour shift, was given 2 breaks of about 10-15 min each. Burned my hand numerous times because they gave me plates that came right from the oven and never said a word. End of the shift I told the head chef I was done. He called me soft and Said I was the third person to quit on him after a day. I said "maybe it's the way you treat people".
    via u/ItsMeDoodleBob
  • 23
    Font - mirageofstars Two times. Once I applied for and got a telemarketing job. I didn't know what it entailed. After an hour I knew it was a terrible fit...auto dialing people during their dinners, trying to sell them stuff they didn't want, reading a horrible script while sitting in a soulless grey cubicle. I got up, went to the manager, apologized and said it wasn't a good fit for me. He seemed understanding. Another time I attended a "make easy money at this job" seminar and it turns out it
    via u/mirageofstars
  • 24
    Font - battleangelred I answered an ad for a baby sitting job. I was already working on a casual basis but it was sporadic so I thought some after hours baby sitting would be welcome extra cash. The couple were both in the military and proceeded to tell me that I would be staying in the spare room and looking after their 6 mth old child around the clock as well as doing the housework. I would have one day off every two weeks. They said it is cash in hand so
    via u/battleangelred
  • 25
    Font - I could sign onto the dole (unemployment benifit) to make up the rest of the money. I left on the spot. They wanted a live in housemaid and nanny not a baby sitter and they were not able to pay for one. Why they thought it was up to me to illegally collect the dole to subsidise them I don't know.
    via u/battleangelred
  • 26
    Font - sleepdyhollow applied for a job at my longtime favorite restaurant(celebrated my birthday there every year). Owner asks me to come in for basically a try out, as I communicated i was looking at other job possibilities. I come in and they just stick me on dishwashing for an hour, no biggie. Then there dishwasher doesnt show up, so the kitchen manager asks me to stay one for their lunch rush, saya I'll get paid for the hours. I do, kitchen staff was nice so I was happy to help out even thou
    via u/sleepdyhollow
  • 27
    Font - manager I probably wouldnt be back, he understands and thanks me for the help. Fast forward a couple weeks and he tells me to email the owner after I ask him if i should pick up my measly paycheck. I do, she basically tells me to f off over text. Tells me it was "staging" and that she told me i wouldnt be paid, I respond that I understand that but that I stayed an extra 3 hours which I WAS told i'd be paid for. She stops responding, I decide I want to be petty over the 40 bucks so I get t
    via u/sleepdyhollow
  • 28
    Font - weeks later I got my 40 bucks, never went back to that restaurant. Edit: Firstly, "petty" is not how I see it two years later. Im VERY glad I did this and sharing the story with others in my city I learned this practice was very common with local restaurants. Hopefully others learned to stand up for their labor too from my small experience.
    via u/sleepdyhollow
  • 29
    Font - Secondly, this restaurant closed down a couple weeks after I got that paycheck. The owner made a long winded complaint on the FB page about how the food culture had "changed" in the city and her restaurant didnt fit in anymore (total bulls, they were ALWAYS popular. Most people theorized the terrible mismanagement and employee ab se had caught up to her).
    via u/sleepdyhollow
  • 30
    Font - When the microwave in the lunch room was coin activated.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 31
    Font - HeyItsTheShanster. Got what was supposed to be a prestigious political internship that came with a security clearance and everything. Found out at orientation that the "part time" internship was really 40-60 hours, unpaid and that no intern had gone on to work with the organization and weren't really given a leg up for other federal posts. We were supposed to facilitate meetings with heads of state, coordinate conferences and assist the actual employees with composing published research p
    via u/HeyItsTheShanster
  • 32
    Font - They were definitely drinking their own koolaid so I bounced right on out of there.
    via u/HeyItsTheShanster
  • 33
    Font - yellowchaitea I was hired to be a waitress, which has a lower hourly wage due to tips. The entire shift they had me wash dishes in the sink, but paid me waitress wages. A few months later the restaurant was investigated for a number of fraud activity.
    via u/yellowchaitea
  • 34
    Font - unelune I interviewed for a "professional marketing assistant" and got the job straight away. I was under the impression that I would be an assistant to the man I was interviewed by. When I showed up for my first day, the same waiting room I was in the previous day was FULL of people. I quickly learned that we were all hired, and that I would be a door to door salesperson selling some pretty useless s I spent my entire day inside a Starbucks applying for other jobs and went home, got paid
    via u/unelune
  • 35
    Font - uno_the_duno It was a small independent insurance agency in 2006. My first day there the owner (a true fossil) said email and fax were strictly forbidden as he only 'believed in' communication in person, by phone, or through mail. Left for lunch and never went back. I couldn't imagine the inefficiency I'd have dealt with had I stayed. They ultimately closed their doors so it was definitely the right decision.
    via u/uno_the_duno
  • 36
    Font - DrTardis89 I wasn't the person but I was training a new guy at a movie theater. A customer asked for extra butter. She was nice and normal. Not a mean or ri de customer. The kind I would pay to handle all day long. He puts the popcorn tub down, says I'm going to the bathroom, takes off his apron and walks out the front door and never came back.
    via u/DrTardis89
  • 37
    Font - 05CR Worked in a hotel for a day. No one told me where anything was. Got chewed out for it. Guests enjoying their meals told me to pay no mind/I was doing a good job and that my boss is a C I told the manager that I was quitting and wouldn't be doing the next shift.
    via u/05CR
  • 38
    Font - I arrived the next day, returning a work uniform and my supervisor approached me and yelled at me for being late. I told her I already quit but if i was working, technically I was 5 hours early for my shift. Absolute nutcases.
    via u/05CR
  • 39
    Font - Facetiously_Serious Young and naïve right out of college took a "marketing" job. My interview was great, nothing shady seemed to be going on and no immediate red flags. After 4 hours of training, my first day consisted of going door to door in a suburban town trying to sell cable to older people. We were told to dress for business, so I'm hiking around for miles in my best skirt, suit jacket and heels.
    via u/Facetiously_Serious
  • 40
    Font - Hours were from "9-5" but we didn't get back to the business until well after 10pm. Not to mention, the person I was shadowing was able to make a sale to an older gentleman who seemed to have memory issues. I noped the f right out of there.
    via u/Facetiously_Serious
  • 41
    Font - Knuckles316 Electronics store. My first day we had to attend a class where they teach people how to upsell folks. Basically walked you through ignoring what they ask you for and using their ignorance of the equipment against them. I thought that was really scuzzy. Then they went on to tell us about a commission style bonus program that basically forced employees to upsell everyone. When we took the break for lunch that first day I peaced out and went home. Never got paid for those four ho
    via u/Knuckles316

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